IT'S not hard to lose faith in the Great British public.

You only need to go to the local supermarket where 'parent and children' parking spaces are filled by cars with no kids and the power to read and count is suddenly replaced by the power to be pig ignorant at the 'nine items or fewer' tills.

It's no different in sport where Bob Paisley, the manager of the Millennium who won three European Cups, does not get a knighthood and Alex Ferguson, who won one, does or when the best footballer in England is pelted with coins by so-called English football supporters.

But these mere irritants and anomalies will pale into insignificance if a certain vote goes the wrong way on Sunday.

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is actually more of a test of the nation's grip on reality than a serious vote because there is only one choice.

If Steve Redgrave doesn't win by a landslide we might as well all jump in a coxless fours and skull our way into the wide blue yonder.

The Beeb are trying to juice it up in the name of ratings by touting a dozen or so candidates in a pulse-racing trailer for Sunday's programme and there are some fine achievers in the shape of Audley Harrison, Lennox Lewis, Jonathan Edwards and Denise Lewis.

If people cast their votes on the basis of what they have done in the last 12 months alone then Redgrave could be struggling. After all he only - if only is the right word - won one Olympic gold medal which can be matched by many of his rivals for Sunday's top honour. And he was just one fourth of the team which won the particular category of his chosen sport of rowing.

But the Redgrave story goes deeper than that. The cream of this year's crop are all greats but Redgrave is a legend who will be remain a household name when the rest have been long forgotten.

He has been at the very pinnacle of his sport for 16 years in which he has won Olympic golds without fail and all the time going about his business in a manner which makes him the perfect role model in a society which is precious short of such commodities.

He has defied age, illness and man's tendency to burn himself out.

He will be taking nothing for granted after missing out on the Sports Personality award four years ago after winning his four consecutive Olympic gold when the people decided Damon Hill finishing second best in Formula One motor racing was a greater achievement.

Surely, not even the Great British public will make the same mistake this time.

Whites deserve better following

I'VE every sympathy for people who choose not to support their football team because of the high costs involved these days.

But my sympathies were even greater for Bolton Wanderers' players last Sunday when only 13,000 turned up for a vital match against one of their main rivals for automatic promotion.

Noises coming out of the club in the lead-up to the match suggested anything up to 20,000 were expected so seeing all the empty spaces can't have done much for morale.

It is to the players' great credit how they stoked up the fiery passion which filled the Reebok in the second half as the 13,000 made it sound like 25,000 were inside.

Nothing has gone right for the team this season with injury after injury, dwindling crowds and the clear message that there won't be any serious money to strengthen the squad this season.

The character and commitment they have shown in overcoming odds and rising to challenges makes them more deserving than any of their rivals in the First Division promotion shake-up.

The loyal 13,000 are equally deserving of the satisfaction they are getting from the campaign and while both parties could do with the missing thousands flocking back it isn't going to happen so you're on your own boys.

Robbo rides his luck

THERE are cats with fewer lives than Bryan Robson.

Mind you cats don't have owners like Steve Gibson.

Robson was unlucky as a player. He was injured more times than Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator and was even around at the wrong time, forced to parade his out of the ordinary talents in ordinary club and country teams.

But he is making up for it now. Year after year phenomenally loyal chairman Gibson has seen Robson fritter away more money than you can shake a stick at.

Even the arrival of the top English coach Terry Venables to rescue the club has no affect on Robson's position. In an era when chairmen are accused of demanding success too quickly Gibson is one in a million.

Fond farewell

WHAT should be the end of an era will go practically unnoticed tomorrow.

John McEnroe comes face to face on a tennis court with Bjorn Born almost certainly for the last time.

And the veterans' clash in the Honda Challenge is sure to bring the memories flooding back for those present.

The Wimbledon meetings between the two in their heyday were as gripping and all consuming as Sebastian Coe versus Steve Ovett and Muhamed Ali against Joe Frazier.

You were either a Borg or a McEnroe man with a deep desire for one to win and an equal degree of respect for the other.

It's a far cry from today's tennis scene in which you could stand all the charismatic characters one on top of the other and still not have enough to reach the top of the net.

Thanks for the memories. And, by the way...come on Borg, the Yank's just a big mouth.